Team Jam
Experiments in Creative Collaboration
How might we foster collaboration in team environments without impinging individual creative freedom? To better understand the essence of collaboration and creativity, our team experimented with small activities exploring the boundaries of personal and collective creativity.
- Conditional Design
- Collaboration
- Drawing
- Material
Group members
Hanli Zhang, Muskeen Liddar, Mizuki Tanahara, Priti Pandurangan
“a physical conversation happening in paint instead of words. The sense of humor, the snide remarks, the profound realizations, the simple chit-chat all happened with paint and brushes ... There was a sense that one was watching something being unveiled and discovered for the first time.”
— Keith Haring
Collaborative Drawing — Led by Muskeen
Muskeen led an engaging workshop in which we created our own drawing tools out of markers, brushes, strings, nets, and whatever else we could get our hands on. This activity helped me see the importance of working together and adapting one’s pace to the needs of others in a team.
Conditional Design — Led by Priti
This activity was designed in the spirit of slowing down and appreciating the process of creation over the finished product. We blindfolded ourselves, put on some music, picked up a pen each, and let our natural rhythm guide us in filling out the paper. The sensory nature of the experience helped me become more aware of the present moment and enjoy what we had created collectively.
Collage Design — Led by Mizuki
Mizuki organised a collage workshop in which we each cut out and collected text and images from old newspapers. Each of us took turns selecting and pasting an image, and it was interesting to see how we attempted to connect otherwise disparate images. To me, this was synonymous of us bringing our distinct ideas to the table and stitching them together into a cohesive whole.
Torrance Test — Led by Hanli
Hanli’s workshop brought out the child in us. We all began by drawing simple shapes and evolving them into meaningful visuals based on words we passed around. This boosted my ability to doodle without judgement while also revealing how much of an over-thinker I am.